Before being named national team manager in July 2008, Rada worked as an assistant for then national team coach Karel Brückner from 2006 to 2008, and also as an assistant to Jozef Chovanec from 1998 to 2001 when Chovanec was manager of the Czech national team. Rada has also been head manager of Czech clubs FK Teplice (on two separate occasions), FC Viktoria Plzeň, and FK Jablonec 97.

In his playing days, Rada was a defender, who starred for Dukla Prague for nine years, from 1979 to 1988. He won the Czechoslovak First League with them in 1979 and 1982. Rada also made eleven appearances for his national team, Czechoslovakia.